Construction on Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi hospital is expected to be completed in 2014.Courtesy of Cleveland Clinic

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Top Cleveland Clinic executives along with former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen described an adventure Monday evening that held the audience's attention.

The Clinic is looking for about 2,500 employees to work in a sleek, modern hospital unlike any other in the world.

Patients will walk into a glass atrium that is about three football fields in length and find private rooms that are large enough to accommodate families. They could live in glass towers, play on sandy beaches, meet amazing people, and enjoy some of the world's finest culture all while working in a 360-bed hospital built on a island.

This life-changing opportunity, the standing-room only audience of about 600 was told, is waiting in oil-rich Abu Dhabi.

"It's an amazing place," said Cohen, who is now chairman and chief executive of consulting firm The Cohen Group. "They are starting from almost ground zero and creating a new world for themselves."

Construction on Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, which is being built on the man-made Al Maryah Island, is slated to be complete next April. Clinic Chief Executive Toby Cosgrove said it would open about six months later, though no exact date has been selected. A time-lapse of the construction is available here.

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi will be the second hospital project that the Clinic has in the Middle East. It has also managed the 750-bed Sheikh Khalifa Medical City hospital since 2007.

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi is being established through an agreement with Mubadala Healthcare, a business unit of Mubadala Development Co. The Clinic has a 15-year contract to operate Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi once construction is complete.

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi has close to 300 caregivers employed in Abu Dhabi. Once open, the hospital will employ of about 2,500 nurses and allied health professionals and 175 staff doctors, said Dr. Marc Harrison, chief executive of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Harrison said more than 3,500 physicians around the world have applied. Among those attending Monday was Aniko Kukla, a program coordinator and registered nurse at the Cleveland Clinic, who said she would work there.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow and do something for others," Kukla said. Her husband Tom Creamer, who works in human resources at another company, was there to listen.

The two had laughed and clapped when, at one point, Cosgrove teased executives already in Abu Dhabi about parking and salaries.

"How's the pay?" Cosgrove asked others on-stage during an answer and question segment. Then he turned to the audience, smiled, shrugged and said, "What? I know you want to know."

Harrison answered, "We pay people fairly and in a way that is proportional to the environment they are living in."

Then, he added, "We do not want people who are coming for the money." Instead, the Clinic wants the type of employee who has lots of options but is choosing the experience of helping create a hospital overseas, he said.

Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates with an estimated 2.12 million people. Nearly 80 percent are classified as non-nationals, according to a government Web site.

During the question and answer session, one audience member said he was cardiac surgeon from Abu Dhabi. He asked the executives if they were nervous about losing those international visitors at the main Clinic campus in Cleveland, adding that many of the families who travel here bring their families and money and stay for months.

"The most important thing is doing the right thing for the patients," Cosgrove said, adding that less than 1 percent of the Clinic's main campus patients were international.

Clues to Cancer: Patients, doctors on road to discovery

For 10 months, Plain Dealer reporter Angela Townsend and photographer Lynn Ischay followed 9 patients through their journey as study participants in Phase 1 trials at University Hospitals. We tell their stories here.

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.